The Book of Celebi: Legend's Awakening
by Whismur Publishing House
Summary: Team Rocket's top assassin, Evergreen, has been assigned her toughest mission yet; being a normal eleven-year-old trainer. Follow her as she deals with an arrogant rival, a ghost from her past, a pugnacious Jigglypuff, and more. Based off R/G/B/Y/FR/LG. Being rewritten.
1. Prologue: VS Mew

**Hey y'all, after a few name changes, I'm back with a changed around plot that came about mostly due to me theorizing about an alternate timeline. And I'm actually writing Chapter Two after this! Yay! I really don't have much to say but enjoy and be sure to review! **

Prologue

Evergreen was starting to hate boats.

In her opinion, the only way to get anywhere was free-running, and for long distances, planes were bearable. But boats? Even though she had just stepped onto one for the first time, she was sure it would lurch and be way too fast for her taste.

Upon inspection of the interior, it was actually quite a nice boat, if somewhat small. The furnishings were mostly wood, but there was a table set up near the controls with seven chairs set around it. This was odd, considering there were only five who usually sat down… It probably had something to do with their 'guests' for this evening that she'd helped threaten earlier that week.

As she expected, the boat lurched forward and she grabbed the wall to steady herself. Muttering a few choice curses from her extensive mafia-raised vocabulary, she walked unsteadily towards the only others on the voyage who were remotely close in age to herself: the boss's kids, Scarlett and Silver. The boat lurched again, and Evergreen flopped down unceremoniously next to the siblings.

Scarlett, the voluble teenager, ruby eyes gleaming with her usual cheeriness, tried to initiate a conversation. "So guys, how's it going?"

"Hn." Evergreen and the youngest of the trio, a five-year-old named Silver, weren't the most verbose people.

The redheaded girl rolled her eyes. "C'mon guys, can I get at least a sentence out of you?"

The younger brunette gave in; if she didn't, Scarlett would never shut up. "I hate boats."

Silver, apparently thinking the same thing, gave what would probably be his only words of the evening. "When will this be over?"

"That's more like it!" The teen grinned, feeling accomplished, "I have to agree with you, Eva, and I have absolutely no idea, Silv."

Evergreen, somewhat irritated by the use of that nickname, stared blankly at the older girl. "The execs didn't tell you anything?"

"I know, right?" the redhead said, her usual happy mood somewhat dampened. "Usually Dad and Archer and the rest tell me everything 'cause I'm gonna, 'inherit the business', or whatever," she stated, dropping her air quotes.

The two younger ones each raised an eyebrow.

"Along with you guys, of course." the teen amended.

"But you've gotta know something, right?" the brunette asked.

"Naturally. I am a master eavesdropper, after all," the ginger girl said, puffing out her chest with pride.

"Yeah, yeah, that's great," Evergreen said, trying to deflate her cousin's ego, "what've you got?"

"Well, there're these scientist guys, and this rare Pokémon, and they're studying it. We're probably after it because it's worth, like, a ton." Scarlett finished, moving her arms animatedly to illustrate her point.

"Okay, any idea where we're going?" the brunette girl inquired, trying to get as much information as possible.

"Not really," the teen admitted, "just that it's somewhere between Hoenn and the Sevii Islands."

"Wonderful," the younger girl muttered. "We just had to go get some rare Pokémon in some hot place where I don't want to be. By boat," Out of boredom and psychological need to hurt something, she pulled one of her sizable daggers out of her boot and cut notches in the black rubber sole.

"Oh, I don't think it'll be that bad!" Scarlett said, warily eying the blade in the brunette's hand. The younger girl had been trained as an assassin for two years now, and she did her job very well, to put a happy spin on it.

A cream-colored feline with black rimmed-ears and a red gem in the center of her forehead walked over towards the youngest of the group and nuzzled his cheek, much to his ire. "No, Persian! Go annoy Dad or one of the others!"

The classy cat Pokémon hissed at the redheaded boy and stalked over to the table close to the boat's controls where the adults were sitting. She laid her head on the arm of her master's chair, giving a throaty purr, and Giovanni subconsciously stroked the spot right above the gem on the Persian's forehead. He looked out at the group of people he'd brought on the trip: his right-hand man, Archer; his wife, Ariana, and her sister, Mercury; his uncle, Petrel; a mint-haired recruit named Proton, who was currently manning the controls of the boat; and the strongest non-League affiliated trainers in the world, Harkin Vershun and Avner Platinum.

"So we all know the plan: Archer, Ariana, Petrel, Proton, you'll be staying here with Silver."

The three present at the table nodded. "Will do," Archer replied. "What plans do you have for my daughter?"

"Evergreen, along with myself, Mercury, Scarlett, Harkin, and Avner will be coming ashore. She'll be doing what she does best."

Harkin subconsciously shuddered: He was very disturbed that a girl so close in age to his son was conditioned to kill without a second thought. A sideways glance at Avner showed that he felt similarly, although his daughter was a few years younger.

He focused his deep red eyes on Giovanni, the only man with the gall to threaten his family. He desperately wanted to introduce Giovanni and his 'organization' (more like a den of thieves) to Raichu's Thunderbolt, Poliwrath's Hydro Pump, and his own fists. Avner, the more vocal of the two, decided to ask something.

"How long do you expect this to be?"

Giovanni smiled cruelly. "You'll be back in Sinnoh by tomorrow night."

Not letting any emotion show on his face, Avner asked one last question.

"When will we arrive at this island?"

"About an hour or so."

Evergreen followed the brown haired man—Avner, she remembered—onto a dark blue Pokémon with flippers that seemed to be made for swimming. The island was visible against the ink black sky—only a short swim and they would be ashore.

Avner stroked the soft down behind his Pokémon's gold trident-like crest. "Empoleon, can you take us to that island?"

With a chirp of assent, the Empoleon started to kick its webbed feet at a surprisingly fast pace. A warm tropical breeze blew onto the duo's faces. Evergreen dipped her fingers into the cool water and allowed herself a small smile. This was much better than being cooped up on a boat.

They arrived at the shore just after Giovanni returned his Nidoking. Mercury, a tall red-haired woman with vibrant crimson eyes, stood with her Feraligatr behind her. Giovanni dusted the sand off himself and stood next to his sister-in-law. Avner stepped off his water-and-steel-type first, managing to avoid stepping into the water. Evergreen, on the other hand, wasn't as lucky: she waded through, for her, knee-deep water to get to shore. Thankfully, she was wearing boots, so her feet didn't get wet, but that didn't stop her from feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Scarlett arrived next, riding her Dewgong, who didn't seem to enjoy being somewhere so warm. After hearing a distressed bark from the ice-type, she returned it, hoping her father wouldn't admonish her for having such a weak Pokémon. Not thirty seconds later, Harkin arrived on the back of his battle-scarred Poliwrath. Both walked onto shore, and after a salute from the fighting Pokémon, Harkin held out a Pokéball and returned him. The others all turned to Giovanni to lead them.

"All right: Mercury, you'll be with me up front. Scarlett, Avner, you'll be directly behind us. If you see anything strange, let us know. Harkin, you'll bring up the rear. Evergreen, take to the trees. The same goes for you two; see anything strange, let us know."

The four trainers and young assassin nodded. To get a head start, Evergreen kicked the sheer rock face and shifted her weight up to propel herself onto the next level. Not missing a beat, she grabbed the top ledge of a shorter rock face and pushed herself up. Noticing several handholds on the rock face ahead, she grabbed them in rapid succession, almost flying up the rock. She loved free-running; it was like flying without wings.

At seeing the forest before her, she kicked the trunk of the nearest tree and grabbed the nearest branch. She flung herself onto the next highest one on the tree to her immediate right, and kept going until she reached the top of the tree line. Peering down, she saw eight vague shapes amidst the densely wooded forest—what she assumed to be the shore party and their Pokémon. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary for an uninhabited tropical island, she hopped to the top of the next tree. After a few more leaps, she noticed an area too level to be the ground. Curious, she looked at the ground around her to see if there was anything to break her fall—and after a brief search, she found just the thing: a large pile of leaves.

Standing as far up on the tree as she could without falling, she took a deep breath and looked at the sliver of moon hanging in the night sky. Assuring herself she would be fine, she took the leap of faith. Straightening herself as she fell, she flipped as she got closer to the ground. She landed safely on her back into the pile of leaves. Standing, she felt a slight twinge of pain on her tailbone, though she could tell there wasn't anything broken or damaged that would require rest. Walking along as silently as she could, she took a closer look at what had captured her curiosity before—what appeared to be a small building. The lighting inside was so dim Evergreen could barely see it—but it was a sign of life on this strange, faraway island.

She came silently closer to the dwelling, noting the light was coming from equipment inside. She heard a rustling and then the distinct thud of footsteps, which meant one thing; whoever was inside had heard her. Cursing herself for doing that stupid jump, she quickly ran and sat beneath the window, tucking her knees into her chest. Easing a dagger out of her boot, she heard the footsteps come slowly closer and closer, so excruciatingly slow she wanted to scream.

The steps finally came to a stop, and whoever it was opened the window to look down; a fatal mistake. As he leaned down, she blindly thrust her blade up—whether she hit his cranium or his throat, she didn't know. A slight grunt was all that could be heard from the now dead man's lips, and as quickly as she pushed the knife in, she pulled it out, shining metal now dripping with blood. She wiped the blade free of blood on her black pants and quickly left the scene—she hated lingering after a kill.

A few quick leaps from the trees later, she caught up with the group in the clearing in the center of the island.

And it was a horrible sight.

The first thing she saw was Avner's body lying face up with a bloody slash wound in his chest, no light behind his once bright grey eyes. She swallowed: she hadn't known him very long—but now was no time to mourn. Besides, she was too tough for that. She rushed forward and almost tripped over a log—or what she thought was a log. Upon closer inspection, the long crimson hair was a dead giveaway. Mercury, her only real caregiver after her parent's divorce, was dead. She knelt down next to the woman's body—standing felt like too much.

Almost as soon as she'd knelt, a blinding flash of pain seared her back. She fell on top of her caretaker's body, unable to get up. After a few blinks, she couldn't feel any wound, just an overwhelming sense of dread, a loud ringing in her ears, and the foul scent of rotting bodies. A Shadow Ball.

Through the buzz left from the attack, she heard the faint cursing of her boss—and he was calling her name.

She shakily stood up, her back protesting.

"Evergreen! Take out Vershun! No one else can know of this voyage!"

Ignoring the pain, she strode over to the dark-haired man and grabbed one of her blades. But, for some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She knew she was being a wimp, she practically did this every other day, but the nagging voice in the back of her head was persistently telling her not to kill him.

Well, if she couldn't kill him, she'd need to fake it somehow, because she didn't want to face the consequences of not following orders. A decoy, maybe?

She remembered bringing one of the failed attempts at creating some kind of powerful Pokémon. She couldn't quite say why she did; they were next to useless and they could only transform, but she had this nagging feeling that'd she'd need it. She released it from its Pokéball and picked it up. It protested by growing teeth and biting her wrist, but she was wearing leather wrist guards made for Pidgeot talons, and this pain was nothing compared to her throbbing back.

She walked towards the raven-haired man silently, readying her foot-long blades hidden in her wrist guards. The Ditto, scared out of its wits, immediately released her wrist. Once she looked over Harkin's shoulder, she saw what Avner and Mercury had died fighting against.

There were two feline Pokémon, one pink and one blue, both levitating and with big, blue eyes that would seem innocent if not for the bloodlust behind them. The blue was smaller than the pink, and looked much younger and more pugnacious. The pink, however, looked as though she felt threatened: Must be territorial.

The assassin looked at the purple blob of a Pokémon. "Transform into him." she commanded, jabbing a blade in Harkin's direction.

The Ditto, now shaking with fear, shook its head. Or whatever head a blob could have.

Evergreen sighed and brought her hands and blades closer to the transform Pokémon. Intimidated even further, it nodded, and it began to grow a little over six feet tall. Its features grew to mimic Harkin's sharp ones, and after a few more seconds, it was an exact copy of the man.

The young brunette then knocked Harkin over, which attracted the attention of his exhausted Raichu and Poliwrath. With the Pokémon coming closer, she closed her eyes and drove her blade into Harkin—the ditto copy, that is.

As the ditto landed facedown, she turned to Harkin. "If you have a flying Pokémon, go. Leave now. Somewhere secluded. Like—" she paused, trying to think of such a place, "Mount Silver. Leave before Giovanni notices. Or we're both dead."

After collecting himself after watching the girl kill an innocent Pokémon, he returned his Pokémon, ran into the forest, and released his Fearow.

Glancing up at the dark sky and seeing the dark figure of a bird Pokémon, Evergreen turned back to her boss, who ordered his Rhydon to use Horn Drill.

The grey Pokémon obeyed, charging at the blue Pokémon, drill spinning very quickly. The blue Pokémon's eyes widened and the drill made contact with the small Pokémon, a sizable wound forming on the place on its neck where it was hit. Giovanni nodded to the young assassin, and the brunette listlessly picked up the limp body of the feline Pokémon. The large pink feline, enraged at the human taking away its child, readied a Psycho Cut.

"Evergreen, watch out!" Scarlett called, trying to protect her companion.

It was no use; she hadn't heard her in time. Another skull-splitting flash of pain flared on her back, so terrible,she saw flashes of her worst nightmares; droves of dead innocents, her mom and sibling's home in flames, her boss ruling Indigo with an iron fist—with her help. It was too much…

After the assassin had passed out, Scarlett picked up the limp form of the assassin and released her Crobat. Her father released his Honchkrow and picked up the small blue Pokémon similarly. They flew out towards the small boat that had taken them there, not completely sure of what to do next.

The next week, a man with blonde hair and a strange unruly blue cowlick surrounding his head arrived at Faraway Island, as it had been dubbed by him and Dr. Fuji. He looked over the top of his glasses. There was something somewhat off about the island today, so he released his Beheeyem to psychically scan for trouble.

Beheeyem's digits glowed one after the other, and he began floating toward the research center. Curious, the scientist called out his Magnezone to help levitate him over the rock. The electric-and-steel-type's bolts shuddered in their places—a sure sign of fear in the mechanical Pokémon. Furrowing his brow, he returned the Pokémon and followed his psychic-type towards the small building in the forest.

Once the building came into view, the man lost his breakfast. No one could hang out a window at that angle and still be alive. He stroked the bridge of his nose in an attempt to calm himself down, but it proved ineffective. He walked slowly closer, shaking and wondering if maybe the subject of their research had gotten nervous and lashed out on Fuji.

Steeling himself at the sight of his deceased friend, he took a closer look at him and frowned. Neither of the Mew on the island could have lashed out and made a wound that small and deep. That meant only one thing. Someone had killed Dr. Fuji.

Going inside of the small building, he went around, packing all of his research supplies. He looked over to the body of his fellow man of science, and scooped up his limp body to bring him back to his homeland of Kanto to bury him.

After preparing the boat to leave for the last time, he felt that there needed to be one last thing—a way to remember his friend if any were ever to visit the island ever again. He would try his best to tell the world not to go there, but just in case anyone did… He grabbed a piece of smooth driftwood and a permanent marker.

_September 6_

_If any human being sets foot here ever again, let it be a kindhearted person. With that hope, I depart._

_Colress and Fuji_


	2. Chapter 1: VS Jigglypuff

**Hey guys, I basically put our lovely little assassin back in character. Don't know what made me write her like that before. Anyway, thanks for the reviews Y-ko and PurpleArmadillo! :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chappy!**

**Chapter One**

The leader of Team Rocket sat in his office, staring out at the two grunts in front of him.

"I assume you brought what we need?" he asked, silently hoping the grunts completed the mission correctly— for once.

"We sure did!" the blonde on the left said, cracking a smile. Giovanni almost imperceptibly raised an eyebrow. Since the intelligence of the average grunt was questionable at best, smiling was never a good sign.

The blonde's partner—a rose-haired boy who couldn't have been much older than sixteen—swung the bag of stolen goods off his shoulder and opened it. This was even more worrisome—he'd only asked them to get two things. Knowing that they didn't do as ordered—again—but refusing to admit it quite yet, he assessed the Pokéballs that were being placed on his desk.

Two Bulbasaur, two Charmander, two Squirtle—at least those were valuable. An Elekid and a Magby—those were rare, they would sell for a lot. Old Amber—again, hard to come by, it would sell well. A Horsea? Okay, those were uncommon, but they weren't that great. He peered into the last Pokéball. A—a—Giovanni couldn't believe his eyes. A Jigglypuff. Something inside him snapped.

He stared at his desk, trying not to punch the mahogany surface in sheer anger.

"What… is… this?!" he asked through gritted teeth.

The blonde's smile quickly faded. "It's what you asked for," he stated. "Anything of value in the Oak Lab except an Eevee and a Pokédex."

Giovanni looked up with a fiery silver glare and grabbed the Jigglypuff's Pokéball.

"Does THIS—" he shook the Pokéball for emphasis—"look like it's of ANY value whatsoever?"

The grunts' gazes quickly turned to their feet.

"W-we're sorry, Boss," the blond stammered, "W-w-we—"

He silenced the incompetent grunt with a wave of his hand.

"Get out of my sight. You two are on cleaning duty for the next three months."

The grunts winced at their punishment, but said nothing. "Yes sir."

As they left, the boss gave them one last order. "Bring me Evergreen."

He slumped down in his leather office chair, turned it to face the back wall, and sighed. His wife, Ariana, was right: hiring complete idiots would prevent an uprising, but why did they have to be so—well, idiotic? It was getting very hard to get things done.

"Yes?" a young female voice called.

Gripping the arms of his chair and mentally applauding himself for not jumping at the sudden voice, he turned around to face his most loyal servant, who'd stalked into the room in complete silence.

On the outside, she didn't look like much, a brunette girl of eleven, but he knew better. She, under his and Archer's supervision, had been trained as an assassin from the age of five, and she was loyal to them to a fault. She had made quite a name for herself across Indigo's underworld, by far the most feared assassin. She was one of few reasons his organization was so revered.

"Evergreen: I have a mission for you."

She nodded, never speaking more than she needed to. It was a little unnerving, to be perfectly honest.

"Do you know of Professor Oak's outpost on Route 1?"

She smiled slightly, which made him even more uncomfortable.

"What do you need me to retrieve?"

"An Eevee, and a Pokédex, if you can get one: If there's anything else valuable, get that too."

She nodded, briefly closing her greenish-blue eyes.

"Of course; they'll be on your desk by morning."

With that she turned on her heel and left the room. The boss released a breath he didn't know he was holding. She always left him uneasy; she was always a little too smart for her own good.

* * *

Evergreen looked out the window near the gym roof she was about to crawl through. A few hours earlier, she'd been assigned to a relatively easy mission; while burglary wasn't her strongest suit, she was still pretty good. At least, that's what she told herself.

She grabbed the top ledge of the high window and flipped herself onto the roof, landing in a crouching stance. Calmly standing up and walking across the roof, she scanned the area for anyone in Viridian City who wouldn't appreciate eleven-year-old girls on the gym roof. Seeing no one, she leapt off the roof, rolling once she hit the ground to lessen the impact.

Having made it past the ledge in front of the Gym, she kept walking through the city—which, to her, was more like a small town. She was born in a city much larger than this—her thoughts were interrupted by her foot crashing into something.

She looked down and saw the local drunk passed out in the middle of the road. Someone should really move this guy. She sighed quietly; did she have to do everything in her life? She dragged him in front of the nearest house—he was much too heavy for a normal person, but nothing she couldn't handle. There. Now someone else could deal with him.

Straying off the paved path in an effort to avoid anyone else, she quickly reached Route 1. Realizing that she could get in some free-running for the first time in weeks, she ran up to the nearest tree, kicking it to propel herself to the higher branches. Leaping across the trees, she smiled slightly, like she always did when she was free-running. The freedom in her somewhat strict—to put it mildly—existence as an assassin was always welcome.

Once she'd run out of trees, she descended the pine silently and got a good look at her surroundings and raised an eyebrow. She wasn't expecting more than one building to be at the meeting of Routes 21 and 1. What were two houses doing here?

The only one of the three buildings that had any lights on was the biggest one, close to the shore. Assuming it to be the Lab, she strode towards it, avoiding the windows that had no equipment in front of them. From what she'd seen of it, the easiest, most concealed way in was through the circular windows near the roof. At first glance, they appeared to be miniscule, but, having ascended the windowsills and uneven brick, realized they were plenty big for a skinny girl to climb through.

The assassin pulled out one of her ever-useful daggers from her boot and cut around the rim of the window and pried it out of place. Keeping a tight hold on the piece of glass, she listened for a moment. Thankful that no one had heard her, she eased herself through the window, trying her best not to impale herself on the remaining glass. She silently landed on a shelf behind a large machine, setting the piece of glass down next to her and peering down at the rest of the Lab.

Oddly enough, she saw a large gathering of people, most of which were vaguely familiar, though she couldn't quite place why. Searching for Pokéballs within reach and not finding any, she looked at the group again, trying to figure out why she felt like she knew them.

All she saw from her vantage point was a woman with crimson hair, a redheaded girl maybe the same age as herself, give or take a few months, a tall blond man… Duh. Hitting herself mentally, she realized it was the Gym Leaders and Elite Four members, with the exception of her boss. Did that mean… Moving slightly to the right and scanning the small crowd again, she saw a shock of aqua hair. Of course her father was here. Doubting her boss's faith in her, she tuned into the League meeting.

"So…" the black-haired Grass specialist, Erika, began.

"The Ranger Nation sent us an egg?" Lance, the ever-dramatic redheaded Dragon trainer, mused. He stroked his chin, pondering.

"Well, to be more accurate, it was sent to Professor Rowan initially," an elderly voice began—Professor Oak, Evergreen assumed, unable to see him—"and he traveled down here to Kanto so he could use Elm's expertise and my equipment."

"But what does that have to do with us?" a monotonous male voice asked: Koga, most likely.

"I have a feeling," a familiar rich masculine voice drawled, "that the criminals of this fine region would come after something so valuable."

Evergreen rolled her eyes. Nice one, Dad. Great way to take attention away from yourself.

"I believe Champion Apollo is right," another voice, this one bearing a thick Sinnish accent, stated. It could only be Professor Rowan.

"No need for formalities." The young assassin felt the air of the lab turn on her father. He was a very arrogant man, not a very well-liked Champion, but still a very powerful one.

"I have spoken to Champion Cynthia," Rowan continued, "and during her mythological research, she recovered an ancient text."

An aura of confusion spread across the room.

Rowan cleared his throat. "The text, when roughly translated, said something along the lines of a special bond between legendary Pokémon and humans, causing both to gain unspeakable power. The Ranger Nation seems to believe that this egg will hatch into a legendary. What better way is there to bond than from birth?"

Evergreen mulled this over. Unspeakable power… that was something the organization desperately wanted. Interesting, but she'd deal with it later.

Tuning back into the meeting, she heard the door open and felt the room freeze.

"Sabrina? What are you doing here?" a curt, business-like voice inquired, most likely belonging to Lorelei.

"The Dojo Master," the psychic said with disgust, "refuses to recognize me as the Gym Leader of Saffron. He will not leave quietly by any means." The navy-haired woman paused suddenly. "Does anyone else feel that?"

"Feel what?" a booming Unovan accented voice asked. Lieutenant Surge, obviously.

"A presence… Someone who shouldn't be here."

The brunette froze. Silently and trying her hardest not to think—or even breathe—in fear of the psychic, she eased her way out the window, silently descended the wall, and sprinted for the forest.

* * *

Once back at the Gym and still very unnerved, Evergreen demanded an audience with Giovanni.

"But—but—" the grunt guarding his office stammered, "th-the Boss said not to let anyone in unless it was Evergreen!"

The assassin blinked. "Excuse me, but are you new?"

He nodded.

Evergreen sighed. "Do you even know what she looks like?"

"Brown hair, blue eyes, short…"

This brought out the brunette's icy death glare. "Are you sure you want to continue that thought?"

The grunt was drained of color in no time flat. "O—of course not; my apologies Miss Admin Evergreen!" He ducked his head and ran out of sight.

Evergreen smirked. "That's what you get for calling me short," Quickly changing her expression to a neutral one, she strode through the slightly open door to her uncle's office.

He was sitting in his big leather office chair, as per usual, fedora lying on his desk.

"Evergreen," Giovanni regarded her coldly. "The next time the guard insults you and runs away like that, get rid of them. Anyone that weak is of no use."

The assassin nodded and then realization hit her like a kick to the chest. For the first time in years, she hadn't fulfilled her boss's orders. And the last time… she kept that secret. If he found out she hadn't killed Harkin Vershun…

The ground specialist blinked. "Evergreen?"

She snapped back to attention. "Yes?"

"Your report?"

She took a deep breath and looked Giovanni in the eye. _The worst he's going to do to me is a few days without food. Nothing I haven't handled before._

"The Pokédex and any Pokémon must have been moved after the earlier theft. There was also a League meeting at the time; the justice system's higher ups probably wouldn't have appreciated my presence."

The boss frowned. "It was midnight when you left."

Evergreen clenched her hands into fists and evened her breath to prevent herself from stuttering. Showing weakness in front of him would be suicide. "It was about a Legendary egg that the Ranger Nation had sent off for study."

His silver eyes gleamed with greed. "Do you have any more information on this… egg?"

The brunette shook her head. "I can hide well, but I can't hide from psychics, Master."

There was a momentary pause that the nervous assassin broke.

"I'll find as many Eevee from trainers as I can; it would be more efficient."

Giovanni smiled slightly—not a good sign. "Of course: I like your thinking," He opened his desk drawer and pulled out the Pokéballs the grunts from before had brought in. "Take your pick from these."

Evergreen looked out at the Pokéballs and blinked. He was letting her go that easily? Deciding to move quickly before he could change his mind, she grabbed five random Pokéballs, not bothering to look inside them.

"All right," The young assassin said. "I'll be back soon, with as many Eevee I can find."

Her boss nodded. "Good. I'll try to have some grunts meet you periodically, so we can keep tabs on your progress."

The brunette nodded gratefully. She had no clue why she wasn't being punished, but she'd take it. Giovanni turned his office chair around to face the wood paneled wall. She turned on her heel and made her way to the door, five Pokéballs in one hand. Right next to the door, something caught her eye. A round gem; light orange-yellow in coloration. Pretty, but since it was sitting in Giovanni's office and not on the market, most likely worthless. It might help if she gets in a money jam somewhere along the way. She took it in her spare hand and walked out the door.

* * *

Evergreen sat in her small room, staring at the Pokéballs lain out on her bed. Opening them looked a lot easier than she thought.

She'd thought she'd tried everything as she picked up one the one she'd been trying to open for the past five minutes. Throwing, prying, twisting; even trying to cleave the top off with one of her daggers…

But apparently pressing the button was the way to go.

Mentally slapping herself, she looked at the creature that had just materialized in a flash of red. It was pink, with wide cyan eyes, pointed ears, a cute curled tuft of fur, small stubby arms, large feet, and a homicidal expression.

In other words, a highly ticked-off Jigglypuff.

With one heck of a DoubleSlap.

Trying to get rid of the stars she was seeing, she sat up, holding her jaw. Now it seemed to be ranting in a series of "chi"s and "plu"s, waving its tiny arms around and shaking a fist.

The assassin froze and tried to think of some way to calm it down before it managed to destroy any part of the base. It might have been a small, pink normal-type, but she recalled those Pokémon knew a great variety of attacks.

Thankfully, the normal-type had ended its rant (so it seemed) and took in its surroundings. It was a small room—when you're Team Rocket's lean mean killing machine, you don't own much. Eyeing the Pokéballs on the bed, the pink Pokémon tried to jump up, with no success. Evergreen, wanting to help, but not having a clue as to how to give it without further angering the fluff ball, reached out to grab it to help it up. However, the Jigglypuff had other ideas. The Balloon Pokémon breathed in and started to expand. Now floating, the normal-type directed itself over the bed and deflated.

Landing facedown, the Jigglypuff quickly righted itself and walked over to the Pokéballs. It grabbed one and held it out to Evergreen.

Taking the Pokéball, she looked at the seemingly very intelligent Pokémon. "Want me to let this one out?"

The fluff ball nodded.

The assassin pushed the button on the Pokéball and a quadruped green reptilian Pokémon appeared. It had a bulb on its back, triangular spots all over its body, and three claws on each foot. It was sprawled over the bed, asleep.

A gleeful look spread over the Jigglypuff's features, and it pressed the button on another Pokéball as the brunette tried to remember anything about Bulbasaur, a Pokémon she was familiar with due to its rarity and value. She realized she really didn't know much about it, having never worked with Pokémon before. She made a mental note to find a book or something. She definitely wanted to make the most out of having Pokémon, if only temporarily. Hearing the cackling of electricity, the assassin frowned and looked over to the source of the noise.

A small yellow Pokémon with two prongs on top of its head and black stripes was running around and trying to shock a red and yellow one of similar size. This one had a tail, a spike on its back, and three claws on the ends of its small arms. A blue and cream finned Pokémon hid behind a pillow, avoiding the pint-sized Electric type. She could identify Elekid and Magby for a similar reason for knowing Bulbasaur, but she couldn't quite remember what the water-type's species was. This was getting somewhat frustrating.

The new trainer grabbed what she hoped was the Elekid's Pokéball, hoping to stop it before things could get bad. Instead she grabbed Jigglypuff's Pokéball and returned the fluff ball. The assassin glanced inside, and to say the normal-type was not amused would be an understatement. It tapped the red polymer from the inside a few times, but that wasn't enough to convince Evergreen to let out the pink Pokémon.

The brunette returned the rest of the Pokémon she'd obtained and placed them on her desk, not caring much. She flopped down on her bed, wondering what to do next. Didn't trainers have some form of identification?

She smiled slightly. Hacking was something that nearly impossible to mess up; no one even really checks the government's extensive records when you're training, so long as you don't run out of money. She scoffed at the thought. Team Rocket had extensive funding. It wouldn't be a problem if she… borrowed some.

* * *

About half an hour later, the newbie trainer had her hacking station set up.

It wasn't really much though, just a tablet, a few new Pokéballs, a printer, and a reference trainer card "borrowed" from one of the grunts.

She tapped the icon labeled 'Indigo Record Master Hack'. The window opened, and she was faced with a black screen with a superimposed red R behind the information entry fields. Speaking of which…

**Name:**

This was a bit of a problem. She had a name other than Evergreen, of course, but it didn't suit her in the slightest anymore, for one thing, and for another, that would tie her to her family overseas, which would tie her back to her father, effectively putting her back in square one.

Well, since she would be committing heinous crimes, why not do it with an outlandish name?

**Last: Green**

**Middle Initial: K.**

**First: Leaf**

Leaf Kelly Green. Why not?

**Date of Birth:**

She could be honest with this one, because her birth records were far from Kanto.

**01-26-0598**

**Hometown:**

She could be honest with this as well, because the place in the town was never specific.

**Viridian, Kanto**

**Hair Color:**

That wasn't going to change anytime soon.

**Brown**

**Eye Color:**

As she was trying her absolute best to make sure she wouldn't be at all associated with Archer (or rather, his persona as Champion, Apollo) to avoid any suspicion, she would have to find a way to hide their shared teal eyes.

As she lost herself in thought, her attention drifted to her open closet. Her mind tuned back to a few weeks ago, to a recent incognito operation in Olivine, Johto. Only the execs were supposed to go, but her father had naturally wanted her to tag along. Petrel had gone off to set the operation into motion, dropping a small package of contact lenses on his way out. Knowing the man as a master of disguise, they likely weren't prescription, just colored. At the time, she'd picked them up, because the co-leaders of the organization were rather entertaining when they argued. But maybe they could actually come in use. She went to where she'd been keeping them on her top shelf and ripped off the box's lid. She slid the individually packaged lenses out of the box and onto her bed.

Holy moley, Petrel had every color in the rainbow and a few that weren't. Rose, carmine, tangerine, gold, cobalt, heliotrope, grey, rust, black… she stopped and picked up a pair labeled forest green. Well, that actually fit with her hilariously unusual name.

**Green**

That was all of the required information fields; the program would do the rest. She tapped the 'Finish and Print' button at the bottom of the screen.

She watched as the printer spat out the I.D. It was green (fitting) and had the rest of the data fields filled. Now for the easy part.

The brunette released her Jigglypuff, not imagining the consequences of keeping the puff ball cooped up in a Pokéball for too long.

The normal type started to rant again, but this time gesturing to the scratches all over the device. Apparently, this was an absolute outrage to the Jigglypuff, which was preparing some beam-like move.

Before the pink Pokémon could beat her up, the newly dubbed Leaf held up her hands in surrender. "Whoa, slow down. I got you a new Pokéball!"

The normal-type stopped in its tracks and looked at the Pokéballs laid out on the bed. The assassin had gotten all kinds; regular, Great Balls, a Nest Ball, a few Dusk Balls… the blue-eyed Pokémon picked up the gleaming white Premier Ball. Yes, that would do nicely.

Leaf twisted the top of her Jigglypuff's old Pokéball counterclockwise until she heard a click. She pulled the two halves apart, breaking the device. The pink Pokémon, who was still admiring the Premier Ball, was sucked into the white and red sphere. The brunette watched as the Pokéball shook once.

Twice.

Three times.

_Click!_

The brunette released the Jigglypuff.

"Happy now?"

The normal-type nodded emphatically.

The assassin picked up the tablet and entered her Jigglypuff into her records. A near full team would be a little suspicious. But there was another slight problem.

She had no family in the system.

But that was an easy problem to solve.

A few more strokes of the keyboard later, she was Leaf Kelly Green, daughter of Harry and Victoria Green. She had placed their records pretty far off. It was less work, and besides, no League official would need to check those records in too much detail.

Leaf looked at the clock on the tablet. 3:15. Might be a good idea to get some sleep: she would need to reset her internal clock from nocturnal to diurnal if this journey thing was going to work.

She set her alarm for seven a.m. and tried to get some sleep.


End file.
